152 Xanthium. 



From the above statement, it appears that much obscurit}' 

 and difficulty arises in botany, when errors creep into the dis- 

 tinction of species : to detect those errors, and to ascertain the 

 synonyme of obscure species, is not one of the least useful 

 botanical labours. Having found, last year and this year, in 

 the neighbourhood of New- York, a species of Xa/ii/awm differ- 

 ent from any described by the authors, and intermediate be- 

 tween the X. strumarium and X. orientale of Linnaeus, I pre- 

 sume that it may be the X. orientale of Muhlenberg, Leconte, 

 and Morison, and the Xanthium of Canada, mentioned by 

 DecandoUe, Dumont, &c. I have given to it the name. of 

 X. maculatum, since the stem is spotted like the Conitim macu- 

 latum. None of those authors having described it, I suppose 

 that its description will be acceptable, and will serve to fix this 

 new species among the American botanists. 



Therefore it will appear, that the X. orientale, which had 

 been considered as a native of Asia, Europe, and America, is 

 composed of at least three species ; the European species, 

 which has been called X. macrocarpon by DecandoUe, the 

 American species, which I have called X. maculatum, and the 

 Asiatic species, to which the name of X. orientale ought to 

 remain ; but which ought to be better described, and more 

 fully distinguished from the X. macrocarpon by those who may 

 chance to meet with it. I even suspect that many species 

 grow in Asia, since that of Ceylon may be different from the 

 Chinese and Siberian species. 



Xanthium Maculatum. 



Definition. Stem flexuous, round, rough, spotted with black ; 

 leaves long-petiolate, cuneate-reniform, nearly trilobe, sinuate- 

 toothed, obtuse, rough, and thick ; fruits elliptic, obtuse muri- 

 cate ; thorns rough. 



Description. The root is annual, thick, and white. The 

 stem rises from one to two feet ; it is upright, without thorns, 

 very thick, and with few branches ; it is covered with oblong, 

 black, and rough spots. The leaves are ievr, but large, 

 with very long petiols ; they are nearly reniform, with an 

 acute base, and have three nerves ; the teeth are unequal. 



